This is a muffin recipe that I’ve been tinkering with for a while, in many different iterations.

I love the crunchy texture and bite that cornmeal (polenta) adds to baked goods. It’s perfect on the bottom of crusty artisan breads or homemade pizza crusts, and I just adore it in muffins and pancakes. I even make muffins without any flour at all, and entirely use cornmeal as my grainy base — they’re messy and maybe not the prettiest breakfasts, but they taste divine.

So with all of my different variations and tests, the final push to complete this recipe? Some gorgeous mulberries I grabbed from the Farmers’ Market last weekend.

In a moment of simpatico thinking, I was over at Louise‘s place last weekend and her mulberry tree is in full swing: dropping ripe, sweet, sun-ripened mulberries all over her car and front walkway. I saw a facebook status update from her this week mentioning mulberry muffins, so I had to get started on my own.

If you can’t get your hands on mulberries, I think that blueberries would be a great stand-in here… especially those teeny, wild ones. I can find frozen wild blueberries quite easily around here. Otherwise, blackberries, raspberries, or a combo of berries should also work well.

And then you can start experimenting with orange zest instead of lemon zest, and. . . oh the variations are endless!

Preheat oven to 350F, and grease a muffin tin with coconut oil or cooking spray.

Combine Dry Ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine Wet Ingredients. Fold Dry Ingredients into Wet Ingredients, and stir until well combined.

Add the Mix Ins (lemon and berries), and gently stir through the batter.

Pour evenly, filling each muffin cup 3/4 full.

Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes, rotating the pan once in the baking process. Once the muffins are done baking, they should be golden brown on top, and a skewer or sharp knife poked into the centre of a muffin should come out clean.

Let cool for five minutes, then remove muffins gently from muffin tins and let cool completely on a cooling rack.

Enjoy as they are, or à la boyfriend (with a little dab of butter). Store any leftovers in an airtight container for eating throughout the week.

18 Comments on “Gluten-Free Mulberry & Lemon Polenta Muffins”

These look fabulous Lindsay. Now I feel like baking your recipe, but in this heat… I don’t think so! I think that a cornmeal-raspberry-orange zest would be fantastic. Oh… I feel a great dessert idea coming!

Thanks, Amy, for the hint — that’s what I do too, and I don’t need the paper cups that way! I tried coconut oil once, but the cooking spray does seem to work best… And thanks for running Slightly Indulgent Tuesday — I get such inspiration from all the recipes everyone posts!!!

The amaranth and brown rice flours help to make them a little “cakier” than if they were just polenta/cornmeal/grits and no flour. (Which I’ve done, and they’re a little more cornbread-y). You can sub equal amounts of any flour you like, if you prefer!